Facebook has become about as synonymous with social networking as, well, Google is to search. Like almost every other site, you can search in Facebook, but you wouldn't call it a search site. Conversely, the main Google site isn't a social network though its YouTube property is.

But now reports have surfaced that Google plans to take on Facebook directly this year with a social network called Google Me. The search giant has also been busy buying smaller social media-related firms that are likely to help the effort. Datamation columnist Mike Elgan looks at the reasons behind Google's moves and how it hopes to successfully compete against the social networking behemoth.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put the company on "lockdown" for 60 days in preparation for a coming war with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

The reason: Google will launch a social network called Google Me sometime between tomorrow and the end of the year, according to a very widely accepted but unconfirmed rumor. The company is also buying up companies to fortify itself for the launch.

But why would a search engine company want to dominate social networking? The answer is that Google isn't a search engine company.